ATP Stuttgart - Men's Wednesday Preview
Marcel Granollers vs. Andreas Seppi
Even that Andreas Seppi won his first title recently at Eastbourne and looks with a lot of confidence on court, he wasn’t convoked for Davis Cup tie.The Italian suffered this year on clay, his best results is a quarter-final in Prostejov Challenger. Neither the Spaniard excelled as he has also only one notable result, a quarter-final at Belgrade.
H2h is 2/1 for Seppi with two meetings on clay taken by Italian. Granollers has the power and the game to be dangerous, he has overall the better serve and likes to charge the net for volleys but can remain solid from the back of the court too. Seppi doesn’t make too many errors on court but also he didn’t put too much power and will limited just to put the ball back in and wait for opponent mistakes. He improved his serve and also on grass went often for his shots which helped him to win the title so a little bit aggressive is expected for him, as long he will play aggressive he will have the upper hand .Pablo Andujar vs. Albert Montanes
Spaniard and defending champion Albert Montanes rallied his way past Gilles Simon in three sets in his first round match at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart. The match was an uphill struggle for Montanes, he lost his serve quickly and his serve and forehand not always clicked but both started to work in second set tie-break while in decider he played at his usual level. Montanes fired only 4 aces and made 10 double faults landing only 52% of first serve in. Andujar instead finished quickly the match with qualifier Crivoi, served better and won a lot of free points behind the serve but also was aggressive on second serve of his opponent. This will be the key of the match as if Montanes will serve once more poorly then Andujar will have the upper hand. H2h is 2-1 for Montanes with the last win for Andujar this year at Casablanca where Andujar played better. But Montanes putted a lot of fight on court .
Jeremy Chardy vs. Santiago Giraldo
Giraldo beat Melzer for the first time in three attempts. The Columbian showed a lot of determination on court having the upper hand on serve and speed, the Austrian was a little bit sluggish even that in second set started to regroup but was a little bit late. Chardy dominated the match with Kamke behind the serve wining 82% points behind the serve and is dangerous when his serve enters. That will be the key of the match, the player who will serve better will have the upper hand as both relies on serve and forehand. Overall the Frenchman likes to advance more to the net to finish the points quickly while Giraldo likes to dictate from the back of the court. H2h is 1-0 for the Frenchman with a meeting on hard courts, the surface is on fast side and even that light rain is expected the serve and forehand will count.
Cedrik-Marcel Stebe vs.Fabio Fognini
The strange year of the Russian continues managing to lose to Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, who had never previously won a match on the ATP Tour. An upset looked unlikely when Davydenko took the opening set, but Stebe, spurred on by his home crowd, fought back to claim the biggest win of career letting the Russian nervous and without response.Davydenko overall served well but didn’t convert his serves in points while the German did that, was the German who was consistent and precise on court. He will meet Fognini who landed only a poor 38% of first serve in but managed to win against an inexperienced player. The Italian needs to improve his serve as Stebe has good retrieving skills and also showed good consistency, the German should not change the strategy as also Fognini is a tough baseliner but overall the Italian didn’t impress too much.
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. Lukasz Kubot
The Spaniard showed his best tennis wining in two sets and pass over a Stepanek well below his level.The Czech in first set barely made points on his serve while Garcia-Lopez was in demanding form. The second set had same story only that Stepanek made things little bit interesting. He will meet Kubot who needed more then two hours to beat Gimeno-Traver, overall was a little bit lucky as his serve worked in key moments as the Spaniard made a solid match. It will be an interesting meeting as both players likes to dictate with the serve and forehand, Kubot will try to advance more to the net to finish the points quickly but Garcia-Lopez with his powerful ground strokes will keep him more on the baseline from where he will have the upper hand. Garcia-Lopez looked good in first round here and if he will play at the same level he will have the upper hand.
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